A New Year's Serve

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New Thought on the Federer Forehand

As recently as last year John McEnroe predicted that the Rogerhorn would soon wear down, an interesting if so far inaccurate idea.

The Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia, e.g., once were 45,000 feet tall and everyone knows this even if they fall in the 2000-4000 feet range right now.

And in Switzerland there are horns all over the place-- a Lauberhorn named after Lauber while yoked to the smaller Escherhorn named after Alfred Escher, engineer of the nineteenth century tunnel through the bottom of The Jungfrau.

Whether the Swiss eventually re-name one of their mountains the Rogerhorn, the Federhorn, the Federerhorn or something else, Roger's forehand will figure intimately in the honor.

So how does Roger's forehand compare with the officially edited version of it, which appears in the first of the three wireframe videos on the front page that currently opens this website?

More awkward really. The same closing of the racket face at top of the loop is more pronounced because of the way that he (Roger) and Hingis both lift up the racket tip near beginning of their windup.

The wireframe animation here based on 3D data of actual students of Brian Gordon represents a successful editing or simplification of what Roger does.

And one good simplification deserves another. So why not, reader, just turn your elbow up as part of your backswing?

You will have eliminated one entire step to close your racket face and that is huge.

Oh, you say you need a timing pause at top of your loop? Then use that time to float your strings upward or downward or leave them where they are.

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You Wouldn't Want An Airplane Take-Off The Way I Serve

Were you to have that experience however you would notice that the small markers that guide the plane to the main runway were flashing past your window at an unhealthy speed.

That is because I accelerate through the curves. Why shouldn't I if my shoulder isn't flexible enough to point my racket tip completely down while I keep upper arm parallel to the court?

Is a short straight runway any kind of advantage in a tennis serve? Hardly. A long straight runway is good. The racket tip is delayed before it goes down, and it certainly does not stay down, but it does get down, and one measures runway from that ephemeral downward position parallel to the body.

Well, that is how one measures STRAIGHT RUNWAY. Me., I use CURVED RUNWAY. If I were a plane I would tip over, but I'm not, I'm bottle, more like a race car.

This method is not as good as paused or slowed trophy position at start of a huge straight runway but it is better than trying to take off in ten feet.

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Lobs by the Book vs. Improvised Lobs

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, viz., that knowledgeable lobbers do a better job than those who merely wing it. The trick is that, despite being overly conscious at first, one repeats a more knowledgeable use of lobs until the lobs become imbued with instinct.

The two main pieces of knowledge are 1) When lobbing from behind the baseline, put apogee directly over the net, and 2) When lobbing from in front of the baseline, put the apogee of your lob directly over the head of the person you are trying to lob.

1) happens more often than 2) so give more thought to 1), i.e., remember the net guide and never forget it and hit these lobs very very high.

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Introducing The Concorde

Concorde was the French jetliner with the bent beak. The word also denotes "harmony."

I present here a newly minted forehand for hitting a short angle CC or crosscourt or see see-- good in singles but great in doubles if one can hit it into the alley close to the net and follow up with a crisp volley to the exact same spot.

The shot's bent beak derives from a full mondo beneath one's right angled arm. The overall stroke is much more cohesive than any verbal description could ever be other than perhaps the two words "sidearm throw." Cohesive and simple and smooth.

One keeps one's shoulders parallel to the net while moving arm level and sideways from assumed high neutral position cheated toward backhand.

The trick in this simple and deliberate move is juggle to keep elbow directly beneath the racket. One could lead with the racket or particularly with the elbow to try to achieve a short-term gain in sharpness of ball's angle to the target but don't. Long-range, one will be better off if elbow stays directly under the racket and hand.

But what then if the ball goes too high? The answer may lie in adoption of the J. Donald Budge advice to put diagonal thumb behind the racket for a drive backhand.

I think of this advice as the beginning of thumb awareness. And I extend it to most though not all of my other tennis strokes. The thumb is part way up the handle even in a forehand now. This has not deteriorated any forehand of mine from the time when I did not do this. Furthermore, using bent thumb like a pointer on a dial breaks the code that instructors and tennis writers use to describe the various grips. The thumb always knows the pitch of the strings.

Adoption of the Budgian bridge from dry conceptualization to more feel for the strings immediately opens up new possibilities for a multi-grip game, i.e., one becomes empowered to play with more variety.

Okay, there is a counter-argument. Play with less variety. I am good with that and even try it sometimes.

In the see see ("Wow-- look at that skill shot. Where the hell did that come from!"), one freely turns the pointer thumb to the place that eliminates unnecessary adjustment, i.e., to where one can keep elbow directly beneath the racket and hand.

Now one is near the ball and can begin a hitting drop. To do so one wants no different parts. To learn it, one needs to understand the parts: a drop of elbow into the side, an opening of arm to a right angle, rotation of upper arm to bring the racket tip round on its perfectly vertical pin of the upper arm, laying back of hand and twisting down of racket from forearm with elbow held steady with this whole motion (see see mondo) a fluid continuation of the double arm drop that preceded it.

A wise tennis instructor tells his student to think of no more than one or two items at a time-- I obviously present more information here than that.

Tennis like life however consists of much detail, and the people most successful at either are able to put things in perspective, i.e., to focus.

So focus, reader, on melding the double arm drop, braked to form a right angle, into the two items of any full mondo.

Racket tip now is below the hand while one cranks the forearm. Racket tip is still below the hand while one brushes the ball. Elbow then relaxes to slightly straighten the arm in an easy followthrough.

To this description I add one more consideration. Arm work has taken hand to ball. As one brushes upward one puts a small amount of weight on the shot through minimal body twist.

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Contrast and Compare: Forehand Volley, McEnrueful and The Concorde

All three become part of the Barnabian return package, a list of 100 choices for dealing with a seemingly impossible serve.

A volley? How can a volley become a service return? Easy. Stretch definition of volley beyond a shot that one hits before its bounce to a post-bounce shot hit with volley mechanics.

All three of these basic shots can start with a slight rise of the elbow.

FHVSR then can be a straight-wristed chop that lands short in the cc alley, a see see wow wow, my favorite shot in all of the game of tennis.

Similarly, one can try a McEnrueful although that one as fast doubles service return will most likely land deep in the alley. The McEnrueful should be hit as a long shot with a long face.

Again, it starts with a short chop, but this time the chop is forceless and blends into a shoulder swing up around a tilted axis. Reader, does that sound to you like a flat or topspun shot? It's both. Think of easing down to and then shoving a medicine ball.

Then there is The Concorde, which I admit hasn't yet been given its shakedown cruise.

The Concorde can always be discontinued just like the French plane.

But it can start from slightly higher than in the prototype I offered.

One can keep racket at its original level or go higher. Either.

Remember if attempting this shot to blend the double arm fall (elbow comes down as it opens to no more than a right angle) into a full mondo that lays back wrist while cocking forearm for immediate upward brush from downward pointing elbow.

That is elaborate description of something very simple that feels like scaling a rock.

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A 1.5-Second Delay

Miming tennis strokes is what I found myself doing last night much to my surprise.

We were in the Detroit wasteland of abandoned automotive buildings, a courtyard the size of Versailles and so huge that we were immediately lost with no clue as to our destination on a third floor somewhere.

The total working space of the structure or structures, I would guess, had been converted in a ratio of 2 to 5 from abandoned auto factory to active artist studios.

We talked to people, found a sign, entered a yawning elevator capable of carrying three cars.

I had been offered the operation of this elevator-- during a period of six hours-- but my partner Hope said no on the phone on the grounds that I have sciatica.

So I got to attend, unencumbered, the studio opening of my friend Jason, a glassblower with a passion for light.

I have mixed feelings about this. To be Charon rowing people across the river Styx for six hours might have done me good after attending the funeral earlier before the Open women's final of a young man with leukemia who in his back yard shot himself in the head.

But I talked to the brother actually pulling on canvas straps, asked him if there was a learning curve in this job. Yes it took him two hours to finally get the knack of operating that huge elevator while carrying on meaningful conversation with every guest rising up to Jason.

As we entered Jason's studio I saw that there were boom cameras all over the place. In the main installation, I saw myself as a looming dark shade near girders constantly dissolving into ectoplasm and decided to make an effort to stand up straight.

Then Jason himself took a quick turn around the whole room. As he came by the dissolving girders he still was on the far wall in huge color.

So I went over there and lifted my arm. In about two seconds my arm went up.

That is where I spent most of the evening, with breaks for grapes, cheese, wine, shrimp, conversation with Jason and everybody else.

The people who weren't tennis players thought I was dancing. (I did a bit of that to the technopop too.)

As I went through forehands, backhands, volleys, serves-- the whole lot-- I realized I might want to abandon my recent decision to juggle my hand directly beneath the racket at outset of my see wow wow.

No, keep hand closer to head and counter-cock forearm with elbow stable and pointed down even then. I have the option of doing that or simply opening arm out to right angle as part of the initial move-- whichever will produce the best mondo, racket head speed, and unified stroke.

Backhand drive looked good except I needed to keep head down, was lifting too much.

Serve showed that teaching pro Sebastien Foka was right and I still need to get elbow high and far back SOONER.

Jason wasn't put off by any of this. He opined that most people aren't aware of the extent that they affect some space when they walk into it.

Other people felt the interaction works best if the someone entering the space has a purpose.

What I ultimately think is that if there are lots of installations available like this I won't need to have conversations with anybody about cameras and in tennis as in most else there is a great role for instant, barely delayed feedback.

It's like a mirror that doesn't invert and it's better-- I tell you that-- and the camera was behind me so I felt that both in the flesh and in the moving image which immediately followed I was hitting through the wall. In other words I got a good look at what I just had done.

Really, a person can't do and observe at the same time, not at least while he's still learning the thing.

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Never Discussed Contradiction Detected

"Keep your ass away from the ball" is an axiom of tennis. "Be upright and keep your shoulders over your hips" is another. "Look like a martinet the way John McEnroe does" another.

So which is it? A bit of tilt from the hips with a straight spine or no tilt at all?

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Why Djokerfore Works Better than Federfore for the Ordinary Player

Better than Kuertenfore too. In Kuerten's groundstrokes his foot performs a big goofy heel to toe roll. Works great for him but who needs it? Certainly not Djoker.

You laugh, reader, as you realize why I'm imitating Djoker's forehand just at this moment. Laugh until your teeth fall out. More important than why somebody imitates is whether the imitation works.

Okay, a Federfore works because Roger's hand forms a right angle with his straight arm. And this enables him to roll from the shoulder while on the ball. Maybe that is my personal opinion. Yes it is.

Start your Djokerfore by watching rear window video along the lines of this one (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...1%20500fps.mp4).

Note how Djoker on his unit turns sometimes splays his foot just at the last instant. That might prove useful. Or not.

The big thing is a bit of overhand loop to initiate the hitting drop. "Hitting drop." Something used by Big League baseball players.

Djoker's hitting drop is mostly horizontal to establish big separation between his hand and his body.

At which point hand and body become as one. Is this stiff? Djoker is never stiff. But he is structured. Hand and body move as a single unit through this part of the stroke (the mondo).

Do hand and elbow then spring forward through sudden stoppage of the shoulders? I don't think so. But they do build on that unreserved shoulders turn, adding on to it. This is the small stretch where both ends of the racket travel at same speed.

At the same time the forearm rolls the strings up on elbow that remains pointed down-- my opinion again. Yes that is my opinion.

After that, elbow turns over, i.e., the upper arm does its internal roll.

So, reader, try things this way combined with semi-open stance, one of the biggest tips ever to come out of TennisPlayer or any tennis space.

Semi-open stance increases shoulders turn without blocking it on almost all forehands of any kind.

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Three-Part Short Angle See See

1) Mild body turn limited by outside foot step out and combined with keying racket head down while forming a right angle in arm.

2) Arm only (farm gate and mondo).

3) Brush combined with mild body turn the other way.

I don't care if farm gate is skewed downward because of new compass setting of elbow. The moving gate will close the racket head more. But this will happen BEFORE the ball. Try this this way to find most appropriate grip, the one that sends ball to target.

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Welby Volleys, Better Than Every Other Kind

You've got to get the book, I suppose, SECRETS OF A TRUE TENNIS MASTER. Even then you probably won't understand what Welby Van Horn is saying about volleys. Try...try and try...you will fail at last (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...ng_system.html).

These don't feel like one-inch or blocked volleys. But they might feel like one-foot volleys. However these "stringed instrument" volleys feel, they feel succinct, with ball clinging to the strings for a long time.

I'm for combining hips turn with some or more straightening of arm to take racket head from tilted to level at contact (on a waist high volley). Arm work, not body work, then takes racket head up again. (I think so, but the Tennis Player article above stresses that one should keep the rotation and weight shift going right to end of the stroke.)

The finish points: Racket butt points at left hip after the FHV. Racket head points at outside net post after the BHV. Suddenly the FHV and BHV are much more similar than whatever one-you-I did before.

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Post Knee Replacement Serves

Run through the Golden Legends section of Stroke Archive. Won't take more than a couple of minutes.

Tilden: dead-leg

Budge: dead-leg

Kramer: live-leg

Gonzalez: live-leg

Gonzalez # 3: live-leg followed by dead-leg (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...tlevelSide.mov)

Laver: live-leg followed by dead-leg (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...LevelSide1.mov)

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Okay, so as I look more at what I put up I see that Gonzalez does live-leg followed by dead-leg every time. And Kramer and Laver use that method, too. It's just Tilden and Budge who hit the ball first, then let the lagged leg as if it's a manikin's leg ghost-lug forward into the court as a save-step.

But if for many decades one drove hard off of the left leg both in rowing and tennis, say, that most likely would be the leg with the replacement.

To preserve the replacement, Golden Legend serves might be the way to go. One still drives with the front leg but not to the extent that one does in a modern serve or full rowing stroke. (In rowing one drives with the other leg just as hard. Andy Roddick should have been an oarsman.)

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Pull a Rope? Sherlock Asks How

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Novak_Djokovic_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/ND_FH_Center&stroke=ND%20FH%20Center%20OpenStance%20Rear3%20250fps.mp4

In this video the elbow stays solid with the whirling body for a long time, does not "grease" by. But the elbow does bend toward a right angle during this stage. It was quite though not altogether straight.

Sequence: mondo and compress, double-end and wipe, finish.

Can clarity of purpose defeat paralysis by analysis in this one? The wipe starts late when the racket already is far around.

Eggs the ball too, doesn't he.

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Finesse to Add to One See See Design

1) Mild body turn limited by outside foot step out and combined with keying racket head down while forming a right angle in arm.

2) Arm only (farm gate and mondo).

3) Brush combined with mild body turn the other way.

I don't care if farm gate is skewed downward because of new compass setting of elbow. The moving gate will close the racket head more. But this will happen BEFORE the ball. Try this this way to find most appropriate grip, the one that sends ball to target.

The finesse: Add slight rise of elbow to 2); this will make the racket head go level rather than down.

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Next Iteration

One thought leads to another. With all of the thought remaining thought until there are trials.

But; if elbow in process of turning up is to rise, give it its own timing unit. Then put mondo and brush with the reversal of body whirls as in a conventional forehand.

This could place contact point slightly more to right-hander's right, a healthy development.